[FIXED] How to fix a conditional which keeps going to the else statement rather than the if statement in java

Issue

I am new to Java and I was trying something and it won't work. I am trying to get input from the user for only male or female and the code builds, but whenever I enter the input M or F, it automatically gives the else "You did not choose M or F"

System.out.println("Please specify you're gender with M for male and F for female");                         
char gender = readertext.next().charAt(0);
char M = 0;
char F = 0;
if (gender == M) {
    M = 1;
    System.out.println("You picked M");
} else if (gender == F) {
    F = 1;
    System.out.println("You picked F");
} else {
    System.out.println("You did not choose M or F");
}

Solution

char gender = readertext.next().charAt(0);
if (gender == 'M') {
  System.out.println("You picked M");
} else if (gender == 'F') {
  System.out.println("You picked F");
} else {
  System.out.println("You did not choose M or F");
}

Answered By - Roslan Amir
Answer Checked By - David Goodson (JavaFixing Volunteer)